The very-centralized crypto exchange Coinbase has proposed an investment line with MakerDAO, the organization behind the largest decentralized stablecoin.Â
It appears adversity truly does make strange bedfellows.
The proposal would move a third of the Circle stablecoin backing Makerâs dai stablecoin, an estimated $1.6 billion, to Coinbase Prime in exchange for 1.5% yield â or an estimated $24 million of MakerDAO revenue. The proposal comes as Coinbase stock has plummeted and Maker reckons with the regulatory risk created by its USDC holdings.
Maker making the most of its USDC
MakerDAO is the largest single USDC holder.Â
The stablecoin makes up 35% of daiâs collateral, roughly $4.8 billion. The dollar-backed stablecoin allows Maker to invest in non-crypto assets, as with its recent $100 million credit line inked with Huntingdon Valley Bank.Â
Makerâs leadership has been calling for the DAO to shift away from USDC since the tokenâs developer team blacklisted Ethereum addresses in response to US Tornado Cash sanctions. But the Maker community was sour on Circle â even before the Treasury got involved.
âIn the last couple of years, Maker has been actively contemplating how to get the USDC off its balance sheet,â Greg Di Prisco, Makerâs former head of business development, told Blockworks. âMaker holds USDC and makes nothing.â
The Coinbase proposal is being pitched as a way to get a return on the DAOâs dead weight USDC holdings. And while Coinbase does not follow Makerâs decentralized principles, the DAOâs leadership sees the centralized exchange as a pragmatic business partner.
âIn an ideal world I would say we are completely crypto collateral backed because we get maximum decentralization. This is impossible in my view though,â Sam MacPherson, an engineer at Maker, told Blockworks. âThereâs just not enough demand for loans against ETH [and other cryptocurrencies].â
Even Rune Christensen, MakerDAOâs co-founder who has led the charge calling for Dai to move its backing to Ethereum, voiced support for the initiative, writing under Coinbaseâs forum post, âfrom a regulatory/legal/seizure risk perspective, this proposal changes nothing â itâs no different than holding USDC.â
Coinbase keeps a customer
The proposal would keep Maker as a customer for Coinbase, which co-founded USDC in 2018. The company earns interest from Circle on its USDC holdings, which totaled $360 million in June, per Coinbaseâs SEC filings.
Coinbase is making its pitch weeks after Christensen threatened to âyoloâ Makerâs USDC holdings into ether following the Tornado Cash sanctions.
âCoinbase is now saying, âHey, so, you donât leave USDC, weâll give you 1.6% to stay,ââ Di Prisco said.
Coinbase has endured a rough year amid the crypto market downturn. The companyâs revenue and active users shrunk between the first and second quarters, and Coinbaseâs stock price has fallen nearly 75% since the start of 2022.Â
The exchange is also the subject of multiple lawsuits regarding its listing of digital assets the SEC has recently deemed securities.
Coinbase will hope for a stroke of positive news when its proposal is put to a vote on Makerâs governance portal.
Coinbase declined to comment.